Don't Let Me Down
by wstrnplsr105
Summary: In which Henry doesn't win the Dodge-A-Leen tournament and Charlotte doesn't mean to break his heart. (Takes place during Dodging Danger.)


**Hey, guys, I'm back again!**

 **So in my last author's note (tbh I don't know if y'all actually read those things because they're so long and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't) I said that I had a few one shots in progress, including 2 non-AUs. Well, this is one of them! I've been working on this for forever it seems, just adding a little here and there, not liking parts, taking them out, then rewriting until I finally got this. (Side note- Thanks to Lizlen for encouraging me to not take the lazy way out with the ending cause let's be honest, the first ending I had was awful with a side of asshole Henry.) But anyways, I really do like this one for the most part, but of course no writer ever likes everything about their work. (But hopefully, you guys will!)**

 **Also, I am still working on that college AU as well as a few other one shots, and hopefully I will have those out soon. Sorry again for the delay, I know it's literally been MONTHS since I started saying that I would do the college AU and I still haven't even posted the first chapter.**

 **Last thing: If you haven't checked out Loving You Too Much, I hope you will! I am collabing with the amazing Lizlen and I'm really excited to see where it goes!**

 **I'll stop talking now, thank you to everyone to favorites, follows, and reviews to all of my stories! I love you guys!**

 **Song List (I promise I'll try to keep it short):**

 **Don't Let Me Down (cover) by Conor Maynard**

 **Idfc (literally any version of this song fits, it's amazing) by Blackbear**

 **Make Me (Cry) by Noah Cyrus ft. Labrinth**

 **Pills N Potions by Nicki Minaj**

 **Heartburn by Wafia**

* * *

 _"It's in my head, darling I hope,_

 _That you'll be here when I need you the most,_

 _So don't let, don't let me, don't let me down,_

 _Don't let me down."_

If someone asked Charlotte what she thought of a guy being cocky, she would be quick to say that she _hated_ arrogant people, especially guys.

If someone asked Charlotte what she thought of Henry being cocky when he confronted her, Ray, and Schwoz at the Dodge-A-Leen Tournament, she would be quick to say that she _hated_ when her best friend's occasional arrogance showed through.

Which is true.

(Because there's _no_ part of her, not even _a little bit_ , that finds Henry's arrogance sorta-kinda-maybe a little bit…attractive.)

And the split second after he winked challengingly at Ray, when he caught her eye, was absolutely _irritating_ and definitely only made her pulse race because she was _irritated._

Because his arrogance is _irritating._

(And definitely _not_ attractive.)

So, once she gathers herself (from the _irritation,_ of course), she quickly follows him into the trampoline room and tries to fix things before they get even messier.

(Because, well, she's _Charlotte_.)

"Hey," She jogs up behind him, lightly grabbing onto his arm to stop him, "Look-"

"Why did you come?" He cuts her off, spinning around to face her. She has to stop suddenly to avoid running into his chest, surprising her.

"What?" She shoots him a slightly confused look.

"I expect this from Ray, and of course Schwoz would follow along, but why you?" Charlotte can't tell if he's more angry, or more hurt, but either way his brown eyes are so intense that she really does wish she wouldn't have let Ray drag her along.

"It was Ray's idea-" She gives the expected reply, but he starts shaking his head before she even starts.

"Do you agree with him?"

She can't help but take a minute to think this whole situation over. He waits until she sighs, her eyes meeting his calmly as she crosses her arms loosely over her chest.

"I think that you did what you thought was right yesterday. You helped Jasper because he's your friend and you know how much this means to him. I get that." She admits, getting a relieved look in return that quickly drops when she continues.

"But now," She shakes her head slowly, giving him the look that he knew so well, "Now, you're just doing this for yourself."

"No, I'm not, I'm doing this for Jasper-" He defends, but she cuts him off like he did earlier.

"No. You _were_ doing this for Jasper. But back in the lobby a few minute ago?" She waves towards the door behind her, "You made it pretty clear what this is really about now."

"So what, you think I shouldn't play?" He crosses his own arms over his chest, mimicking her.

"I just think you need to make sure you're doing the right thing." She decides, forgoing her usual sassiness in honor of creating peace.

"Oh, I am." He takes a step closer, the irritating (ly attractive) demeanor from earlier returning as he looks down at her, "And I'm playing to win."

And as he turns and walks to where Piper and Jasper are waiting on the sidelines, Charlotte knows that Ray and Schwoz were right.

 _They need to teach Henry a lesson._

* * *

She finds that her range of emotions, most of them being on the side closest to _absolutely infuriated,_ do drop down a few notches while the games leading up to the final tournament are going on.

(But she still wants to teach Henry a lesson.)

She doesn't bother telling Ray or Schwoz about her and Henry's conversation, or her plan.

(Because let's be honest, she's better off handling this herself.)

The finals are here and she's on the end of the trampoline, across from Piper. She can't quite bring herself to try and take the younger girl out of the game, even with the "naturally vicious" personality.

And after all, she's only here for Henry.

(Wait, let her rephrase that: _She's only here to teach Henry a lesson_.)

She stays off to the side, and during the time that it takes Ray to take Piper out with a red ball to the stomach and Schwoz to take Jasper out with an obvious trick that her curly haired friend falls for without a second thought, she starts to reconsider her plan. After Henry does the same maneuver that he used on Mitch the previous day to take out Schwoz, he and Ray are focused solely on taking the other out.

So she stands on the edge of the trampoline and waits it out.

The superhero and sidekick go back and forth, both avoiding the other's throws for what seems like forever before suddenly, Henry throws two balls at once and suddenly Ray is out of the game.

She doesn't even realize what's going on until she looks over at Henry to see him staring back at her, his expression unreadable.

"One versus one!" The overly vocal referee announces, and Charlotte half expects Henry to bail out.

 _Because honestly, in this moment, she doesn't want to throw a single ball._

Then Henry's expression settles into determination and he is throwing a blue rubber ball before she can blink.

He only misses by an inch.

She slowly turns to face him, and her shock quickly mirrors his determination as she gives him a glare that makes her usual "look" seem like a smile.

(They don't even notice five people leaving the room in a panic.)

"Come on, Charlotte." Henry is the first to speak, his voice taunting, "Are you sure you can handle this?"

"Handle what?" She replies with an overly fake smile, "Your enormous ego?"

He rolls his eyes, not bothering with a comeback as she smirks in triumph.

"You're going down." He announces as he picks up a red ball.

She doesn't pick up a ball, simply standing and waiting for him to make a move.

"We'll see."

The next several seconds are nothing but Henry using his speed to throw ball after ball at the smaller girl, who barely manages to dodge them while debating on how to go about her plan.

 _You just need to distract him._

She eventually has an idea and grabs a red ball, throwing it halfheartedly at his feet. While he dodges it easily, she uses her distraction to push off of her own trampoline and land smoothly on his trampoline.

 _Now what?_

She buys her time by throwing two more balls, dodging a few from him in return as she tries to think how she's going to actually take him out. He's confused, which is good for her, so she uses it while she can.

"Switching to the winning side already?" He teases, but she can see that he genuinely is confused.

"I really thought you knew that I'm smarter than that." She retorts while dodging another ball.

"That's the problem." He admits as he dodges two balls, "You're too smart."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere."

"Too bad, I was trying to give you a chance to back out."

"And miss teaching you a lesson? Not gonna happen."

"Why is this about teaching me a lesson?" He stops for a moment, and she watches carefully before doing the same.

"Because this is wrong, Henry."

"Because I play to win?" He unconsciously takes a few steps closer, and Charlotte forces herself to stay still.

"Because you're being arrogant about it." She snaps, watching his every move as a new plan forms in her head.

"I'm not being arr-"

"That conversation in the lobby? And after that? Yeah, that's called being arrogant." She cut him off, taking a small step closer to him.

"Whatever!" He shakes his head, staring her down again, "Either way, I'm still going to win this."

"Are you sure, Henry?" She cocks her head to the side, eyes narrowing a little as she steps close enough to him that either one could touch the other easily.

(She _really_ hopes he doesn't realize what she's doing.)

He gulps nervously as she looks up at him, only inches away from him. He can't remember exactly why they're so close, or why the small part of him is telling him that this is a trap, or anything other than the smell of flowers and vanilla and _Charlotte_ and that her eyes are such a unique shade of brown, like mocha…

Suddenly she's barely an inch away from him, their lips barely brushing each other as she smiles.

"Henry?"

He can't seem to find his voice, or his breath, but he somehow manages to murmur a "hmmm?"

Her smile turns into a smirk as she moves her arm and something solid presses against his chest.

" _You're out."_

She backs away, the smirk still present, to show the red rubber ball that she just used to win the Dodge-A-Leen Tournament.

He blinks, his mouth opening and closing in shock as he looks down dumbly at his chest.

"What?"

She hops down from the trampoline, drops the ball, and walks out the door as Henry stares at her retreating figure.

" _What?"_

* * *

Charlotte was rather pleased with her successful plan of putting Henry in his place.

(Seriously, _she's a genius and how did he not see that coming?)_

But she will admit that maybe she's a _little_ reluctant to face Henry again.

It's not like she did anything _wrong._ She just distracted Henry, her best friend, by making him think that she was going to…

 _(What_ _ **was**_ _she going to do?)_

She couldn't think of a decent answer without her face heating up and brushing any possibilities away. It had been two days since the Dodge-A-Leen Tournament, and she had done her best at avoiding the tall blonde at all costs. Apparently, Henry hadn't mentioned what had happened to anyone, as Ray and Schwoz had simply complimented whatever her flawless plan had been and how " _they wish they would have been able to see the look on Henry's face_ ".

 _(Honestly, she's glad that they didn't.)_

So, here she was, walking up to Junk N Stuff with her heart racing and stomach in knots. She tried telling herself that she was being ridiculous, that there was nothing to worry about, but she couldn't stop her hands from shaking as she reached for the door handle.

Jasper was behind the counter as usual, leaning against it as he scrolled through something on his phone. He looked up when he saw her, smiling in greeting.

"Hey, Charlotte."

"Hey." She replied with a nervous smile of her own, casually searching the rest of the room for blonde hair.

"I think they're testing out some new program or something, I was told to send you downstairs when you showed up." He explained with a nod towards the back.

"Okay, cool." She shrugged as she walked back to the elevator.

Several seconds later, the elevators door opened and she stepped into the Man Cave cautiously. She looked around, surprised to see the room empty, but relieved at the same time. She walked over to the desk, scrolling through the system to see what Jasper had been talking about.

"Hey, you're here."

Charlotte nearly jumped out of her skin at the familiar voice behind her and turned to see Henry walking towards her.

 _It's only awkward if you make it, right?_

"Uh, yeah, I just got here. Jasper said something about a new program?" She asked, casually turning back around so that she wouldn't have to keep eye contact.

"Yeah, Schwoz downloaded it yesterday." Her breath hitched at the proximity of his voice, but he didn't seem to notice, "Then decided to go on vacation without actually figuring out how to use it."

"Of course." She tried to laugh along, "I'll try and figure it out."

"I know you can." He was now leaning over her slightly, enough to where she could feel his chest pressed against her shoulder, "You're the smartest one out of all of us."

She swore that her heart was going to come out of her chest as she forced her voice to sound somewhat steady.

"I know."

She waited for him to back up, to leave her alone, but he stayed where he was as she continued working. She hoped he couldn't hear her heart thundering a million miles an hour.

"I can figure this out if you have something else you need to do." Charlotte finally spoke up, hoping her voice wasn't as shaky as she felt.

"Nah, I just finished up with checking weapons, so I'm done for the day." He replied, his voice nearly in her ear as he leaned over her shoulder.

"Well, I don't work well with you hovering over me so shoo." She halfheartedly waved her hand at him before focusing back on the computer.

"What's wrong with me being this close?"

Charlotte held her breath for a beat, not sure if Henry was doing this on purpose or not. She felt her face heat up as she took a steady breath before answering.

"I just don't like when people watch me work, that's all."

"You've never said anything about it before." He countered, and Charlotte _swore_ he was doing this on purpose.

"Well I'm saying something now so-" She retorted, growing frustrated with this possible-flirting-but-definite-irritation act that he had going.

"Why is now different?" He was suddenly inches from her face, and it took her a moment to realize that he had spun her chair around to face him. She was sure he heard her breath catch in her throat when the edge of his lips turned up in a slight smirk.

"It's not." She gulped nervously, her heart pounding in her chest so loudly she swore he could hear it.

"Are you sure, Charlotte?" He raised a brow, resting his hands on either side of her chair as he leaned closer to her.

She couldn't seem to find her voice as her brown eyes widened, unable to tear them away from his own intense gaze. His lips were only centimeters from hers when his words fully reached her brain.

 _Are you sure, Charlotte?_

 _Are you sure, Henry?_

Her hands hit his chest and she shoved him back, face burning as she stood up in anger. She couldn't even voice her frustration (and, she would never admit it, but _humiliation_ ) before he was giving her that stupid smirk that showed he knew exactly what he had done.

"I know exactly what you're doing!" She snapped, pointing at him accusingly.

"Exactly what you did to me." He shot back, his arms crossing over his chest in triumph.

"That was different." She defended, crossing her own arms in return.

"Actually, it was worse." He took a step forward, his jaw tightening in irritation, "You tricked me to make me lose the Dodge-A-Leen Tournament. I tricked you to get back at you."

 _(She doesn't know why that last part stings, but she ignores it.)_

"I tricked you to make you lose the tournament because you were being a jerk, Henry." She corrected, "Apparently, it didn't teach you anything-"

"-except that you have no problem screwing around with my feelings."

Charlotte's heart dropped to her feet as his jaw tightened and it felt like his eyes were boring into her.

 _(Who's the jerk now?)_

"What…" she trailed off, not sure if he was saying what she thought he was saying but not knowing how to ask.

"I mean, I expect the whole tricking me from Ray or Schwoz or literally _anyone_ but you, Charlotte." He shook his head bitterly, not even looking at her anymore, "And the fact that you thought that all you needed to do to trick me was flirt with me and pretend that you were going to kiss me or whatever the hell you were going to do? _That_ hurtmore than anything."

"Henry, I…" Charlotte didn't think she had ever felt like this, like the worst person in the world.

"Is that really how you see me? You think I'm just a player who goes after any girl that he sees?" He continued, throwing his arms up in frustration.

"Henry, you know I-"

"Which makes complete sense considering that Bianca cheated on me and _never even admitted it_! And I never went after another girl once we started dating, but it doesn't matter! I'm still the heartbreaker!" He let out a dry laugh that made nearly made Charlotte's heart shatter into a million pieces.

She knew that he was hurt when Bianca has kissed _Kid Danger_ even if it was _him_. But even she had been secretly upset once she learned that Bianca had never told _Henry_ that she had kissed "someone else". But he had never actually admitted it out loud like he was now, and Charlotte wanted nothing more than to comfort him.

"And then I finally realize how completely in love I am with my best friend, and she goes and does the same thing that every other girl does, because I'm just Henry Hart, the player, and I don't deserve to be treated like my feelings matter."

Charlotte can't speak for the giant lump lodged in her throat (she's pretty sure it's her now crumbled heart) and he doesn't give her a chance to as he turns and walks to the elevator, leaving her alone in the Man Cave without another word.

* * *

It's 2:13 in the morning, and Charlotte is lying in bed hating herself.

She can't stop replaying Henry's words over and over in her head, complete with the pained look in his eyes as he poured out his heart to her.

 _God, she is such a jerk._

She doesn't know what to do, doesn't know how to fix this. Sure, the two of them had had arguments before, but nothing like _this_.

It's 2:16 in the morning, and Charlotte is changing into yoga pants and pulling on a jacket over her dark gray tank top.

The walk to Henry's house isn't necessarily long, but it seems to take forever as she thinks of what to say once she gets there. She doesn't think there's _anything_ she could say to fix this, but she can't just lay in bed and wait for this situation to work itself out. This time is different.

Before she knows it, she's standing outside Henry's window with a racing heart and nothing to say.

She pulls herself up onto the lowest branch, making her way up the tree outside his room like she had a million and one times. She reached the top, hesitating for a moment with her hand poised to knock on the window. Her hand didn't reach the glass before the window was shoved open and tired brown eyes met hers.

He looked at her as though he had almost expected this, but still wanted her to explain. She swallowed all of her nervous thoughts and guilt before she broke the silence.

"Can I come in?"

She half expected him to slam the window shut in her face (and she certainly wouldn't blame him if he did), but instead, he nods and stands back to let her through.

Once she's inside, he shuts the window and moves around her, climbing down the stairs and settling on the edge of his bed. She starts to follow him, but stops halfway down the stairs, forcing herself to sit down and appear anything but restless.

He motions for her to say whatever she came to say, and she doesn't know a single word or phrase that would be good enough.

"I'm sorry."

She cringes at the lame, overused phrase, and soon she's talking again without knowing what's coming out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry and I know that that is the worst and most cliché thing I could say right now but I don't know how else to say it. I was a jerk and I don't know what to say now because _God,_ I hate when we're like this and it's all my fault and-"

"Charlotte." He interrupts softly, and she finally makes eye contact to see him lying back on the bed, not even having to say anything as she walks over to him.

They're both facing each other, the covers pulled up to their waists as the familiarity of the situation sets in. Charlotte had flashbacks to the many times they had been here, when her grandmother had passed away in sixth grade, the time that Henry's mother had been t-boned by a drunk driver when they were thirteen, the first time that Charlotte's parents had been out of town for a week and she was left with an aunt and uncle that she barely knew, the night after Henry had fought and won against Drex with his new hyper motility and he admitted to her in the middle of the night that he had secretly been terrified the entire time.

"Did you mean it?" She whispered after a long, comfortable silence. His looked at her curiously, not sure what she meant.

"What you said before you left." She elaborated, suddenly feeling shy, "About…being in love with me?"

It was dark except for the moonlight shining through his window, illuminating enough for her to see his features, and she could just make out his cheeks darkening a shade or two as he avoided her gaze for a moment.

"Yes." He finally replied, his voice low but Charlotte could hear the resolution in his tone. His eyes reflected the glow of the moon, and Charlotte wanted nothing more to kiss him right then.

But she couldn't.

Because even though she could tell he had forgiven her, she still felt guilt radiating through her chest at the thought that she could just kiss him after hurting him.

He had always been able to read her as well as she could read him, and he seemed to know exactly what was running through her mind. Before Charlotte knew it, he was slowly leaning towards her, as if he was the one who should be unsure in this situation.

Even through her lingering guilt, she didn't stop him when his lips gently brushed against hers, waiting for her reaction. She couldn't help herself as she leaned forward, kissing him back as his hand slid up to cup her cheek.

 _Content._

That's the only word Charlotte could think of to describe how being here, with Henry, felt.

He seemed to feel the same as she felt him smile against her lips, gently pulling away to gauge her reaction. She didn't hide her smile, didn't look away as she met his gaze, and found herself murmuring what she hoped sounded as genuine as she meant.

"I love you too."

The grin that stretched across his face was enough to make her heart skip a beat as he pulled her into another kiss. She returned the kiss eagerly, the guilt lifting from her shoulders as she finally allowed everything to fall into place.

She can't tell when she ended up with her head on his chest, curled against his side as his arm wrapped around her waist. She knew that she needed to get back home, but honestly, she really didn't _want_ to.

"I'll set an alarm for 6:30 so I can walk you back home before you have to be up for school." He murmured against her dark curls, and she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head afterwards. She smiled against his chest at the gesture, burying herself against his side a little more.

"You? Up before seven?" She teased, raising her head to look up at him. He rolled his eyes, but grinned and leaned down to give her a quick, gentle kiss.

"Only for you."


End file.
